Chapter 30 deliberation

(Hélène POV)

Hélène entered the jury room with her fellow jurors. She was rather pleased with the situation. Charlotte and Marion were about to receive more transformations. And more transformations meant they would become even better, to Mr Hamon's delight. Well, Marion would obviously have to be sentenced for that, but it would no doubt be a formality.

“Thank you all for attending. We will now proceed with the deliberations. Do you have any questions before we start?” asked Dakota, who seemed strangely sympathetic at the time.

_“How is this going to happen? Are you going to threaten us so that we sentence them to the harshest penalties?” _asked Nicole sarcastically.

“Far be it from me to do that. I want this to be a fair trial. As far as Marion's 'eventual' conviction is concerned, I'd remind you that a majority must be found to convict her. I'd like to remind you that there are only 4 of us, the audience, Nola and Nezoko, and 5 of you, so if you decide to join forces and not convict Marion, she'll undoubtedly be acquitted,” Dakota explained.

Oh, so all she had to do was choose to convict Marion and she'd be transformed. That was good news, Hélène mused.

“It doesn't really matter. As you said yourself, all that matters is the show, and I find it hard to believe that there's any possible scenario where Marion doesn't get a horrible makeover,” replied Nicole.

“You're free to believe what you want, for now. In any case, I suggest we start discussing Charlotte's case. She has pleaded guilty, which means she must be sentenced. Now it's up to you to determine her sentence. You can discuss among yourselves for as long as you like, then vote on how many VP equivalent she should be punished with. You must choose between -10 VP and -20VP. Her sentence will be equal to the average of our 9 votes.” Says Dakota

“She's not even really guilty. She doesn't deserve to be transformed at all,” says Elisa.

“I'm not sure it matters now,” says Hélène.

“Life is unfair and all too often cruel. To reassure ourselves, we often imagine that the things that happen have a meaning, but the reality is that they don't.” says Karine.

_“If she hadn't intervened, Matamune wouldn't have died,” _commented Nezoko, probably annoyed by her lack of control over events.

_“Oh, shut up, it's only a cat, and it's alive now” _Nicole snapped.

“It's probably not wise to upset Nicole. Even if she can't do anything to you now, that doesn't mean she won't get her **** later.” said Elisa.

“We're all going to be transformed as we go along, until there's nothing left of what we used to be,” said Nicole.

“But no, that's all an exaggeration. Of course you'll be different after this experience, but you'll always be yourself. You see, I'm a judge, a hostess, an assistant, but whatever happens I'm still Nola, your favorite Leprechaun who's always being criticized for talking all the time. I have no more seasons and no more goals in life, but I keep smiling because I know things will work out for the best. Would you like to smile a little more? Look at me, I'm always smiling and always happy. Smiling makes you happy. So, smile,” said Nola, who surprisingly was able to stop her monologue.

Nicole didn't seem to have a response to what Nola had just said and chose to lower her eyes. What was she thinking? A mystery.

“Honestly, I don't even see what there is to discuss here. We've all already made up our minds. Let's vote and move on,” said Karine.

Everyone nodded and voted. For Hélène, the choice was quickly made. She'd already made up her mind before the deliberations began.

“Now that that's done, I suggest we discuss Marion's guilt. Let me remind you that Marion is your classmate, harem sister and rival all rolled into one,” said Dakota.

The fact that Dakota was fanning the embers of discord within the jury was of little interest to Hélène, who in any case had only one hesitation about the sentence.

_“We're not going to sentence someone to **** for killing a cat especially given the circumstances” _Nicole exclaimed.

_“Yes indeed, if she's capable of doing that, what could she do next? Is she going to go even further and kill the Master. Oh, that would make such a good article. You're right, Nicole, we mustn't condemn Marion,” _said Iris.

Everyone in the room looked at Iris like some kind of alien. How could she say such a thing? As for Hélène, she held back from strangling the journalist. In any case, the mere mention of Mr Hamon's possible **** had erased all her hesitation. We couldn't take any chances with Mr. Hamon's safety.

“It's true that she might do it again,” Elisa commented.

_“But that's not the point. You're not going to listen to her bullshit. It's so simple, if the show wants you to do something, you have to do the opposite” _exclaimed Nicole once again.

“Honestly, this logic is not viable. I've got nothing against Marion, but I've known a number of people with aggressive tendencies like that, and they don't calm down until they're high on ****,” said Karine.

“Marion isn't a junky,” replied Nicole.

“That's for sure, but I clearly don't see her calming down and choosing non-****. I'm not in favor of condemning her, but one thing's for sure: I don't think you should risk being stabbed in your sleep. I can defend myself, but you'll get your skin punctured before you know what's happening to you,” says Karine.

“Let's try to reach a compromise. It's true that in her current state Marion is dangerous for us, but above all for herself. A transformation could undoubtedly solve that problem, but it's probably not necessary for her to receive the maximum sentence. So, I propose we vote guilty and give her the minimum sentence” proposed Elisa.

“That's fine by me,” replied Karine.

_“I can see that I'm outnumbered. Let's not waste any more time with this masquerade of a trial,” _said Nicole.

_“Ok then, let's get to the vote!” _exclaimed Dakota.

Everyone complied and voted quickly.

_“And I can announce that the result of the vote is 66% in favor of Marion's guilt,” _declared Dakota.

“How astonishing,” Nicole replied sarcastically.

“I'm glad you feel that way. Now we just have to figure out Marion's sentence. I remind you that elimination is a possibility,” says Dakota.

_“But Dakota, if Marion is eliminated, would that make an odd number of contestants? Are you planning to replace her? No, that's stupid. You've already got your beloved Master” _says Nola.

“We can't involve anyone else in this,” says Elisa.

“You should have thought about that before convicting Marion” replied Nicole.

_“It's not the time to argue, and we can still choose not to eliminate Marion” _replied Karine.

“Because you don't think this whole ballot is rigged?” replied Nicole.

“I don't think they need to rig the vote. They just make the rules, that's enough” replied Karine.

“Each of us will vote according to our own conscience. I don't think there's much point in discussing it any further. This whole thing is just creating more tension because it's dragging on so long,” said Elisa.

“I don't agree - on the contrary, the longer it goes on, the more I'll have to write about in my article, or rather articles. Do you think I should write an autobiographical novel to describe all these events, or rather a historical novel?” asked Iris.

“Iris, do you even understand the seriousness of the situation? Marion could die here!” Nicole snapped.

“Of course, I understand what's going on, and that's why I'm taking as many detailed notes as possible. And no, Marion isn't going to die, that would be far too trivial. Do you have any idea how many people die every day? Nobody cares. No, people are looking for the spectacular, the exceptional, and what could be better than a transformation that completely rewrites the person? Oh, this is going to be great. Do you know if you can get more than one Pulitzer?” asked Iris.

Hélène admitted she was really confused by Iris's behavior. She was advocating Marion's non-conviction and now, a few minutes later, she wanted her eliminated? Could people really change their minds so quickly?

_“Nola, I hope you do the right thing this time and don't make the same mistake again,” _Dakota threatened.

“And here we go with the threats. I knew it.” said Nicole.

“You're getting on my nerves. I agree with Elisa, it's time for this story to come to an end. Let's vote” says Karine.

Surprisingly, everyone nodded and voted, then Dakota posted the result.